H50 Ep: Ho'opio

[the_other_sandy]

I wish this show was as good with plots as it is with character stuff.

This case was totally pushing all of Danny's buttons. As a devoted father he would have been upset anyway, but after Grace's kidnapping last season? Danny was totally channeling his inner Steve. We haven't seen any repercussions from Grace's kidnapping (darned Lenkov and his "things happen off screen"), but you can bet Danny has.

Steve really seemed to be bothered by watching Danny get his McGarrett on. I think he's so used to seeing the neurotic daddy side of Danny that he forgets that Danny handled mob cases in New Jersey. But it was totally in character for Steve to walk away and leave Danny alone with Ray. Funny how Ray coughed up Ella's location (along with bits of his internal organs, I'm sure) soon afterward.

Also? The scene where Danny just had to stop by Grace's cheerleading practice in the middle of the case to hug her was adorable. Show has not had enough of Grace lately.

Plot-wise? Selling the kids on was a plausible (if fairly sick) motive for Helen Cantera to kidnap them, but the Becketts going to all that trouble to buy a kid and keep her for a decade, all the time having to feed her and make sure she didn't escape, just for $500 a month in benefits? There wasn't an easier way to make that money? Danny was right, they probably could've gotten that much recycling cans they picked up along the highway. I think the writers were just desperately looking for a reason for the little girls to be held hostage for so long that didn't involve sexual assault, because the case was horrific enough already.

And as satisfying as it was to watch Danny punch the smug right off of Ray (Henry Rollins does a great sleazebag, doesn't he?), I can't even imagine how Five-0 will get a conviction after that. Of Ray, anyway. Ray's lawyer could make a great case against Danny and Steve.

The thing with Kono and Adam continues to annoy me. She's only now showing obvious worry that Adam is hiding something from her? Didn't she bug his cell phone back in January? You'd think he wouldn't be able to hide a whole lot from her after that, but apparently he managed to leave the country without her noticing. And then she had to go and lie to Chin about everything being fine with Adam as if Catherine didn't know the whole story. The same Catherine who also knows everyone else on Five-0 and is also dating Kono's boss. Yeah, I'm sure there's no way any of this could possibly blow up in her face. Show had better go out of its way to convince me that Kono should still have a badge next season.

Comments

On convictions...

[kahuna-burger.livejournal.com]

I like to imagine that there is a small but dedicated team in the DA's office who is never allowed to watch any news, and every week gets handed a 5-0 file and told "this is what's legal, don't look anywhere near any other files or talk to any of the people on this list here, and get us a conviction." Their co-workers built a paper and bamboo wall around their cubicles* and regularly give them blinders and those little monkey statues for xmas.

*A Chinese Wall is what this sort of information compartmentalization is called in law firms.

Re: On convictions...

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

They'd need some dedicated moles among the defense attorneys too, because there's no way they're not latching on to every procedural "irregularity" to free their clients.

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

That's definitely a lot of trouble to go through for $500 a month. It might have been more plausible if they'd just gone with a folie-a-deux in which the dominant partner was motivated by being completely out of his/her mind. Henry Rollins seemed to be playing it that way to some extent, or it seemed that way to me, but it would be nice if there were a little more to go on. And maybe I was just grasping at straws with that much.

As for convictions and procedures... I have this theory that in the version of Hawaii that exists on the show, there actually are no functioning courts, because all the lawyers are too busy surfing, hiking, working out, and generally being beautiful to do their jobs. So Five-0 just have to be The Good Guys and have flawless intuition for who to rough up and/or shoot to keep crime under control. They're helped in their task by sunshine-powered instant forensics processing and, of course, the magic computer that only Chin knows how to use.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

It might have been more plausible if they'd just gone with a folie-a-deux in which the dominant partner was motivated by being completely out of his/her mind.

I would have totally bought it if the Becketts had lost a 6 year old daughter and kidnapped one to raise in her place, then replaced her with a new one when the old one grew up.

I have this theory that in the version of Hawaii that exists on the show, there actually are no functioning courts, because all the lawyers are too busy surfing, hiking, working out, and generally being beautiful to do their jobs.

My theory is that none of these cases ever go to trial because all the defendants immediately plead guilty so they can be safely locked up in jail away from Five-0 as soon as possible.

[bachlava.livejournal.com]

I would have totally bought it if the Becketts had lost a 6 year old daughter and kidnapped one to raise in her place, then replaced her with a new one when the old one grew up.
See, that would have been the perfect way to handle it. Writers, take note!

My theory is that none of these cases ever go to trial because all the defendants immediately plead guilty so they can be safely locked up in jail away from Five-0 as soon as possible.
Not that they stay locked up for long -- I think a giant ground sloth could slip out of the maximum-security prison without too much trouble. ;)

[bookwurm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you could drive a truck through the holes in that plot, but it did have lovely Daddy!Danny. Scott Caan did a great job keeping a veneer of control while falling apart.

On Kono, I'm still waiting for the fallout from her gun being stolen for a night without her knowledge. I can't believe that that big red F of foreshadowing won't lead to something, but they're sure taking their time getting to it.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I can't believe that that big red F of foreshadowing won't lead to something, but they're sure taking their time getting to it.

I'm sure they've been saving it for the season finale. They probably should have alluded to it in some way, though, because it's been so long since it happened, I'm sure some people forgot about it.